1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for preventing falls from heights, and, more particularly, to such devices for attachment to a safety harness worn by a person working on the roof of a building.
2. Background Art
To avoid bodily injury from an accidental fall, workmen, while installing, removing, cleaning or repairing roofing on a building, commonly wear a safety harness that is releasably attached to a tether line and a snap hook or shackle to a secure point on the building or attached to a catenary or traveling restraint line extending between two secure points on the building. Incorporated into some buildings are building components intended and designed to provide such secure attachment points; see, for example, the roof ridge safety device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,534 and the safety harness attachment post assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,305. Such secure points on a building, however, are not always conveniently available, or available at all, to a workman for this purpose. In particular, prior to the present invention, no apparatus has been disclosed that provides a point of attachment for a tether line at the ridge of a sloped roof and which can be easily and rapidly attached to, and disattached from, the roof.